Plymouth County DA spent $2.4 million for private lawyers

Erin Tiernan The Patriot Ledger @ErinTiernan

Friday

Dec 29, 2017 at 10:32 AMJan 2, 2018 at 8:35 AM

Cruz declined representation by government lawyers that would have come at no cost to taxpayers.

PLYMOUTH – Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz is defending his decision to spend $2.4 million on private lawyers to defend himself and his office against a wrongful-termination suit by a former prosecutor.

“When people are bringing action against you, you want the best people you can get,” Cruz said. “I think, unfortunately, effective representation costs money.”

In October Cruz’s office settled the lawsuit with John Bradley, a former first deputy assistant district attorney in Cruz’s office, paying out $248,000, but the actual cost to taxpayers was much higher after factoring in lawyer fees.

Cruz paid Mintz Levin $2,415,194, a spokeswoman for his office confirmed, nearly 10 times the amount paid out in the settlement.

“We are shocked that the DA’s Office agreed to pay these exorbitant fees to private counsel,” Emily Snyder, spokeswoman for the attorney general’s office said in a statement.

Snyder said her office terminated Mintz Levin’s appointment earlier this year after raising concerns over how the firm was handling the case.

Cruz shot back at the attorney general’s office on Friday, calling its criticism “disingenuous.”

When a private firm represents a public agency, the attorney general signs off and monitors the progress of the case.

“If they were doing such a shoddy job why did they let it go on for five years?” Cruz asked, referring to Mintz Levin.

Bradley filed the suit against Cruz and others in his office in 2013, claiming he was wrongfully fired in 2012 after refusing to donate to Cruz’s reelection campaign and objecting to the way Cruz handled confidential informants. Cruz denied wrongdoing, but settled the case on Oct. 27 for $248,000, including $98,000 for Bradley’s legal bills. Bradley also got a bump to his retirement account in the settlement after he was retroactively reinstated for 18 and a half months.

Cruz hired Mintz Levin in 2014. He voluntarily paid $66,000 toward the legal bills out of his campaign fund.

Timothy Shyne, president of the Plymouth District Bar Association, said it’s hard to say whether the charges are appropriate.

“It certainly sounds like a lot of money to me, but when you start pulling in big firms like that, the bills can rack up pretty quickly,” he said. “They tend to have pretty exorbitant hourly rates.”

The district attorney’s office did not disclose the hourly rate it paid Mintz Levin. The firm did not respond to a request for comment.

Bradley’s lawyer earned $98,000 in the settlement agreement, but Robert Sinsheimer said his actual bill for five years of litigation would have cost $264,000.

“We were extremely diligent. I’m flabbergasted anyone could have put in 10 times more work on the same case,” he said.

Sinsheimer charges $600 an hour.

Per the terms of the settlement, Cruz admitted no wrongdoing and he has maintained that Bradley was rightfully terminated, citing insubordination.

“I was unsatisfied with the fact that it was settled, but I understand why [the attorney general’s office] did it,” he said. “It ended any potential appeals or additional suits.”

Cruz said he was referred to Mintz Levin and believed they were better equipped than the attorney general’s office to handle labor litigation. Cruz was personally named in the suit along with three other lawyers in his office.

Two years before Bradley filed suit against Cruz, the district attorney said several lawyers with Mintz Levin raised a “nominal” amount of money for his campaign.

Campaign finance records indicate they donated $5,000.

Cruz said he had no prior relationship with Bret Cohen, the lead lawyer on the case, or any of the other attorneys who were directly involved.

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